Recrutes: Hockey scouting from a professional perspective from Grant McCagg and Habs coverage from a 33 year veteran covering the NHL from Brian Wilde.
November 18, 2017
By Brian Wilde
A vital game for the Habs to have a winning home stand and to recover from the embarrassment of a loss to the Coyotes as it was described by the Habs Head Coach Claude Julien. The Leafs headed into the game with 5 straight wins. So to the Wilde Horses we go…
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AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!
What do we do now? We need some D help. How long will they wait before they get somebody? I realize you may need to give up something, but surely it can’t be as bad as losing a whole season! This is so painful to watch, but still I do. I do see potential. I see a lot of young guys doing good things. I see Chucky and Drouin skating well and getting good chances. I see the bounce back year some of us predicted in Gallagher. But that D group. They need help, desperately. Am I totally out to lunch here, or should they reach out to Markov? He’ll only cost cash (not the future) and some of MBs pride. Which he should be able to swallow since he is officially in the hot seat after this seasons start. I wonder, Brian, is he able to come back? Contractually I mean? Does anyone know?
Carey Price. Where are you? What’s going on there? How is the same bullshit happening as it did a couple of years ago. How could the team possibly handle this as poorly?
Oh me nerves. 😬
Question, would you “tank” this season to get a high draft pick next season, if by mid December things don’t turn around? No point in trying to make the playoffs, only to be outed in 5-6 games.
Also, I know a lot of people want bergevin fired.m, but I GENUINELY feel like he deserves to make it right. I think he has made some mistakes (offseason signings were poor), but he’s made some great moves as well. Under him we’ve been top of the standings for a few years. I would give him another year after this one. Oh and I don’t see anyone better qualified to replace him at this time.
Yes I would tank..and I’m not sure he needs to be canned. It was a perfect storm this summer..Radulov chose Dallas with the same money..Markov chose the Olympics…the best of a poor lot of UFA dmen was Alzner, the other main dman they acquire hasn’t played a game. Not blameless by any means..but not the first GM to miss the playoffs a couple of times either and keep his job if he’s not fired. Some good young pieces on the way IMO, and this club has one player over the hill. Need to get bigger..so deal a couple of players like Byron..maybe Hudon…they have value…add some size/skill, and more draft picks. Six top 50 draft picks works for me..let Timmins do his thing…turn this around sooner rather than later.
They don’t need size. The league is all speed now. They tried that last year at the trade deadline. Wasn’t pretty.
Disagree – you need both. Not scoring because there’s no net presence..it’s that simple. Does Pitt not have Malkin and Hornqvist? Does LA win Cups without Kopitar? How about Getzlaf and Perry with Anaheim? Tows/Saad/Hossa all big/skilled forwards that Chicago does not win Cups without.
Maybe if Pacioretty knew how to use his size the Habs would have one such player. But he doesn’t. He plays small and timid. Galchenyuk is bigger than Toews but has never been given a clear chance to succeed long term. I agree that the team is small and soft down the middle. Not a good combination no matter what you are talking about.
I think they are not scoring because there is a lack of talent not a lack of size.
And the D is terrible.
I think all of that is on Bergevin. He has been here long enough. It is his team and it is deeply flawed because of his decisions. Time to try someone else, in my opinion.
Great wrap up of the game, as usual, Brian.
I completely agree with your point about the lack of confidence. I think it goes hand in hand with the lack of passion shown by pretty much the whole team except Gallagher.
This team is desperately lacking in leadership. Pacioretty was the wrong choice as captain then and every passing game shows more of the why this is true. He doesn’t even really want to be the captain. He has looked uncomfortable and overwhelmed since the day he was named and he has not gotten much better. He shows no demonstrable evidence of heart and no ability to generate momentum for the team when he is in one of his far too common cold spells. He says nothing in post-game interviews and never steps up when the team needs it.
Weber may be a solid and fearsome defender with a great shot but his stoicism is less than inspiring as well. Price is no better.
It is obvious where I am going with this.
This was the tweet of the night in my opinion:
This is so bad Patrick Roy just reiterated that he will never play another game for the Canadiens again. – Rob Tychowski
Ever since Patrick the Habs have frowned on, avoided and/or exiled anyone with heart and swagger. Not too many Stanley Cups since Saint-Patrick’s departure either, Hunh, imagine that.
They picked wrong when they chose Captain America over Subberman.
The writing has been on the wall since PK got sent out of town. Yeah, I am a Subbanista. But that doesn’t mean I am wrong.
Bergevin has completely screwed this team with his ‘the defence is better this year’ debacle as well. On top of his other massive and minor mistakes, he has the Habs going in the wrong direction. Heaven forbid if Price’s remaining 8.5 years look more like this year than his trophy winning year.
You’re not a Subbanista because you’re not hassling me all day long.
Phew. Thanks!
What kind of says it all: I like Weber a ton; but PK is missed an awful lot more. It really did all go downhill from the moment the CH got its haughty nose turned out of joint by the announcement of the whopping huge PK charity commitment to the Children’s – without the CH taking top billing. The following days saw 67 wrongly get the C and things went from bad to worse from that point on. So disappointing because it was a powerhouse team in the making.
I will say this. I saw Bergevin win back to back Calder with Springfield 89-90, and throughout his career. Hard working stay at home defenseman. Look at the Habs D. They are him. Weber is just a superior version. Game has changed since MB played. He hasn’t. Back end needs speed today. Except for Mete Habs have none.
Brian, great analysis of the game and the team, especially your point about the Habs being fragile. I agree with your positives about Hudon and Mete. On the downside, the D including Weber were either scrambling or out of position for the 2nd and 3rd periods; Toronto’s foot speed far superior.
Also, once the game was out of reach, why not give Mete more minutes and cut back on Weber’s.
Lindgren battled and was hung out to dry, class move by Muller to talk to the kid after he was pulled. We’ve seen this movie before when Tokarski pinch hit for Price, Habs could not score then and still don’t have a bona fide sniper like James Neal.
Going to be a long season, not sure what Bergevin could do at this point. Would be interested in potential moves that you or Grant see.
Like it or not , it started with the Subban trade. If you really have to trade him for what ever reason then you get pieces that you need. Not trading with Edmonton was a mistake. Poile knew exactly what he was doing when he traded Weber. He saw that he needed another mobile defensemen and got it with Subban. So now the Habs were left with only Markov and maybe if you want Beaulieu. Now this year we had Sergachev and Markov and Beaulieu as a mobile puck carrying defensemen before the beginning of the summer. Then a few bad decisions by MB and voila! our D has none before pre-season till the emergence of Mete. So if you hope that the Habs turn it around next year it can’t be with MB as the gm.
Edmonton said no to a Subban trade because Draisaitl was asked for. And they were right. Sorry, but Subban tends to be greatly overrated by Habs fans. And non-Habs fans online only as a way of trying to “stick it” to us.
Brian, Wonderful analogies of the train, the snowball and the avalanche – along with the defence corps as 100 metres v.s 400. You’re a natural writer.
I have a question that is now meaningless but I’m still very curious about – and – one that I never heard discussed. Maybe Grant could weigh in here as well.
This is sadly in the vein of post-mortem.
How come Radulov was never considered as a possible center?? He’s a natural playmaker, powerful and responsible. Imagine a Radulov, Drouin, Galchenyuk line!
Thank you and I guess because it was a stretch for his career path.
-Habs fans have been ridiculously spoiled by past success. That can’t be argued. No team is guaranteed to win a cup every x number of years (just ask the Leafs, or the Canucks) but that seems to be the expectation in Montreal
-The team built by Bergevin has had success in the last 6 years. Top of the division, etc. If Price doesn’t get Kreidered in 2014 we go to the finals. But, teams age, guys move on. Players are not replaced by guys with the same skill level. Some of those factors are the fault of the GM, some are not Now we are not good enough anymore. This happens. We didn’t reach the ultimate goal, but did the Leafs teams with Sundin? No. Did the The San Jose Sharks the past few years? No. Not saying anyone has to be happy about it (I’m not), but this is what the NHL is like.
-Key moving forward is not looking at things with rose colored glasses and taking a hard look at assess and needs. Accumulate picks and try to plug some holes. We do have players with value (27 and 67 immediately jump to mind) that will need to be moved. Is Bergevin the guy to do this? Probably not. Every NHL GM (except David Poile apparently) has a shelf life. He’s reached the end of his. And that’s not meant to be an indictment of him, its meant to reflect the reality of the situation. He can’t make a trade as other GMs smell blood and will try to fleece him.
But, be realistic. Even the so called mighty Leafs: this is the best they have been in 10 years, but do they have what it takes to go through Washington, Pittsburgh, and Tampa? McDavid’s Oilers are a couple of moves away from being really scary. There is no chance with the cap of the Leafs being able to keep the same roster they have now. The brilliant rebuild may not produce a cup. Thats the reality we have to accept.
I’m guessing the Habs learned their lesson from 2 seasons ago when they brought back Price before he was 100% healthy and are being extremely cautious this time around.
In hindsight I suppose he should have said something like “I’ll be taking a few days off from skating” instead of “a couple” as each additional day away starts to compound and it feels like history is repeating itself with the Habs downplaying/underestimating the duration and severity of injuries.
Brian i love your optimism but this sounds like someone making an excuse for a bad relationship . “He/she is fine, just once in a while they screw up and treat me like garbage, but they say their sorry and things will get better” No! They do not get better- why? Because they are not that good!
This team will not get better- why? Because they are not that good. So they skated close to Toronto- big deal- their 16 shots were from far out- there was no one close to drive in rebounds- there was no coordinated sustained pressure, no waves of attack. Not like what the Leafs did.
Confidence and scoring come from talent , talent knows it can score, talent finds ways to score. This team does not have the talent. MB has made this mess and it is unsalvaageable without a massive rebuild. His move for Drouin was a panic move forced on him due to his inability to find scoring. He was naive enough to think that a youngster on a star studded would have the same results on a team that could not score with Radulov carrying the mail. Furthermore he traded the only blue chip offensive D in our system since Subban without a real, creible plan for the D.
So he assembles a slow, immobile D crew that is anachronistic in today’s NHL, hopes that an offence that couldn’t score the year before will explode with the addition of a young Montrealer who was never asked to carry a team before and then he looks skyward when they are blown out on home ice.
This team is not lacking confidence. This team is giving us what they really are. Their only wins this homestand were against teams on the backend of back to backs.
No this team is flawed, disorganized, defensively and offensively challenged wasting the prime years of some good talent. They have far too many holes to fill regardless of how much money you have saved away, too many bad contracts given to bad players, and nobody on the farm who can come in and REALLY make a difference.
We have become the Leafs of years ago- we make excuses and defend our team and rationalize the lineup to make ourselves feel good, when in reality everyone else knows the emperor has no clothes.
They are working hard, they are skating their butts off, but they cannot score and they cannot defend because the talent is not there and that falls squarely on the shoulders of our GM and I do not have the confidence in him anymore to right the ship.